ASK DR. ADORNO:

Sarah Palin is ruining my life: I rant about her; I can't stop thinking about her; I cannot stand to look at her; I'm possessed by her! (Cary Tennis, 9/29/08, Salon)

Dear Cary,

I am a Democrat, a mother of three, and a full-time attorney. During the primaries, I was torn between Hillary Clinton, who I believed had the experience to be president (and really, really, really wanted it), and Barack Obama, who I believed was not only highly capable (albeit less experienced), but also the more sincere of the two and who inspired me on an emotional level that Clinton did not. [...]

And then came Sarah. My reaction to her, and the way the Republican Party threw her in our faces, and the pandering and hypocrisy that was behind their decision to do so, was immediate, visceral, and indeed, vicious. [...] I've also begun to suffer personally and professionally. I bore my friends with my constant tirades against her, and am constantly distracted from my work by my need to continually update myself on the latest criticism, and indeed, ridicule, of her. In my hatred for her, I have begun to hate myself.

I don't want this woman ruining my life before she even gets a chance to ruin our country. How do I stop? Is there a self-help group for this?

A "Hater"*

*As Sarah Palin calls all those who disagree with her (New York Times, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008)

Dear "Hater,"

I think what disturbs us about Sarah Palin is that she reminds us of the authoritarian personality. My guess is that she is also an ESFJ, or Extroverted Sensing Feeling Judging type, with a strong preference for sensing. Such a person prefers to acquire her knowledge from concrete objects and places instead of from abstract ideas. [...]

As an authoritarian type, she strikes us as a person who prefers power to reason. [...]

The very thing that appalls us about Sarah Palin -- her discomfort in the realm of reason -- is her main selling point. [...] Face it: Sarah Palin represents what many people want: a retreat from reason; a regression to childhood.

Inarticulateness is the weapon of the authoritarian in this way: To speak clearly is to risk being understood and thus disagreed with. To speak clearly is to invite debate. To obfuscate and muddle is to avoid disagreement and debate and force the issue to one of power. [...]

It can also be a trait, I think, of the sensing type who has not developed her weaker side. [...]

Why does she get away with exercising her particular magic? Moms exercise power without explanation. We trust them because they are moms. We are children. So we trust them. [...]

Our intellectual disciplines allow us to agree or disagree about realities separate from ourselves. You are a lawyer. You are trained in the law. The law is built of ideas that we can agree about in a general way. We can agree what most laws mean. We can talk about them. One reason you are so appalled by Sarah Palin may be that every time she opens her mouth she repudiates this tradition.

When a person will not articulate her positions well or clearly, she is asserting a kind of power; it is not possible to predict what she is going to do. [...]

But for some, they do appeal to a dark side, to something in us that desires to give up on reason, to have someone take over, to regress.

The shape this authoritarian has taken is the shape of the mother. We want to give Sarah Palin her due because she is a woman and a mother. A cynical trick has been played on us. She is a Trojan Horse. [...]

This is what frightens and angers us: The refusal to follow the rules of discourse, of language, even, implies that there is nothing to talk about.

And you thought Joe Biden gives funny answers.